* SKY: Comcast said it had secured over 75 percent of Sky’s shares, bringing it closer to finalising the $40 billion takeover of the British pay TV group.

* SMITHS GROUP: Smiths Group will buy United Flexible Inc, a maker of products for the aerospace and defence sectors, from private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners for an enterprise value of $345 million, the British engineering group said on Thursday.

* ELECTRA PRIVATE EQUITY: Electra Private Equity, the firm which owns TGI Fridays, is to consult investors on a sell-off of the restaurant chain as part of a broader plan to wind up the company and return investor cash amid challenging trading conditions.

* DFS FURNITURE: British sofa specialist DFS Furniture on Thursday reported a significant drop in full-year pre-tax profit, hurt by a summer heat wave in its final quarter and an “exceptional downturn” in consumer demand.

* GLENCORE: Global miner Glencore and Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power agreed on a price of $109.77 per tonne for supplies of thermal coal from Australia for the year through September 2019, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

* BHP: China’s overseas expansion will spread over land that is home to more than half the world’s population, potentially boosting copper use by 1.6 million tonnes, or roughly 7 percent of annual demand, major miner BHP, said on Thursday.

* GOLD: Gold prices moved in a narrow range on Thursday after losses in the previous session, with robust U.S. economic data and hawkish comments from Federal Reserve policymakers boosting the dollar.

* OIL: Oil prices on Thursday fell from four-year highs reached the previous session, pressured by rising U.S. inventories and after sources said Russia and Saudi Arabia struck a private deal in September to raise crude output.

* The UK blue chip index closed up 0.5 percent to 7,510.28 points on Wednesday as the pound held its ground after an appeal for party unity from Prime Minister Theresa May over her Brexit plan, while Tesco had its worst trading day in four years after a disappointing update.

* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets

TODAY’S UK PAPERS

> Financial Times

> Other business headlines (Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru)